


The Strength To Love

by BaronGio



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-16
Updated: 2020-09-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:34:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26495728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BaronGio/pseuds/BaronGio
Summary: Jasper simply wants to rest. But to do that, she'll have to use her own hands to create, rather than destroy for the first time.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	The Strength To Love

Everything was completely destroyed. Her territory was covered in scarred earth, chunks of boulder and blasted bits of tree trunk. Jasper just stood in the center of the crater that was her home, exhausted in ways she hadn’t been before. She had stuck around for a little while at Little Homeworld but she didn’t have the strength to deal with any of it. Standing in this ruined place, Jasper found she wasn’t exactly regaining that strength any time soon.  
She walked to the center of that sterilized place and began searching for the blanket. It was the only Earthly possession she had, the only one she would admit to liking. She had made a decent little pad for herself, the inside of her fort kept cool from the sun and dry from the rain, the soil soft and cool. With that blanket, she achieved something akin to comfort, and with each passing minute, Jasper wanted nothing but that feeling again.   
But she couldn’t find it. Who knows where it could have gotten blasted to. Jasper’s searching became more panicked and swift, ending in launching a rock halfway to Empire City before she just stood, quiet. The fucking thing could have been disintegrated, she thought to herself. Jasper took a deep breath and sat down on a slag, trying to fight back the episode she felt trying to begin.   
‘All right, all right. I got the fucking blanket from those humans four years ago’, she carefully began in her mind. ‘I haven’t seen anyone since then. Word must have gotten out and now, what the fuck are they, campers?, they don’t show up anywhere near here.’   
Jasper mulled over her options for a little while before deciding to go back into town. She would rather do anything else under the sun, but she saw no other options and knew she couldn’t sleep just on the dirt. She had tried.

\- - -

Connie started awake on the bench. A seagull had buzzed passed her within an inch of her dozing head and the jump made her phone bounce from her lap, popping the earbuds out of her ears.   
“No, nope! Hold it!” she commanded and snatched her phone before it could hit the boardwalk ground. That deft maneuver earned her some “oohs” and claps from some passing Rubies and Connie smiled and gave them an over the top bow. She stood from it and stretched, reaching for the clouds. A bench wasn’t exactly the best place for an impromptu nap, after all.  
Thoughts of a rather indulgent boardwalk grub lunch were coming to mind before the sun was suddenly extinguished and Connie blinked. She turned around and met Jasper.  
“What’s up?” she tried a smile. This was the first time they’d seen each other since Steven left and she thought she mustered a pretty brave face.  
“My-...”, Jasper groaned, “Steven trusts you.”  
“Yes?” Connie thought she let that go pretty well too.  
“I need something and if Steven can rely on you, I can expect that same competence.”   
Connie raised an eyebrow, “Well, I’m glad you think so.”  
“I need a blanket.”  
“A blanket? That’s all?” Connie had been mentally bracing herself for something a little more intense than just a blanket.  
“Yes, that’s all. I would do it myself, but I don’t know where you get blankets in town,” Jasper crossed her arms, “so show me.”  
“Jasper, I don’t-”  
“Something big, and simple. Not like one of those ridiculous rags you see in Pearl quarters,” Jasper clarified. Connie sighed and rubbed her forehead.  
“Look, Jasper, if we’re going to do this, you need to follow some rules.”  
“Rules?”  
“No wall smashing where we go, no touching any humans, and don’t walk out of the store with anything unless I say you can.”  
Jasper huffed and smirked a little, “You’d make a half decent Agate back in the day.”  
“Thank you...I think. Deal?” Connie asked.  
“Deal. Just get me a fucking blanket.”  
“One fucking blanket, coming right up,” Connie rolled her eyes.

\- - -

Jasper and Connie walked into town in silence. Beach City had a medium sized department store, and Connie figured that would be the best place to check first. She texted her friends along the way to tell them she’d meet them for dinner rather than lunch. The elephant walking alongside them had rather heavy footsteps, and Connie found herself jumping a little at its rumbling gait. Jasper, if she noticed, didn’t show it.  
“Welcome to Stacy’s!” the greeter smiled as the two walked in the automatic doors. Jasper squinted at the intense lighting of the store.  
“Remember, stay close to me, ok? This place is a lot bigger than you think,” Connie instinctively went to hold Jasper’s hand, and Jasper crossed her arms again quickly.  
“I’m not a fucking idiot, I can see over every cloth tree in this place,” Jasper grumbled.  
“Cloth tree?” Connie laughed, “Much better than clothing rack. Come on,” Connie lead the way into the store.   
Connie had her work cut out for her. She tried to lead Jasper through the least intense route, but she could do nothing about the perfume section. Having a rock where her nose should be didn’t save Jasper from the olfactory onslaught.   
“What the fuck is with this shit?!” Jasper put her hands to her face.  
“It’s called perfume, it’s supposed to smell nice, but so much of it at once…” Connie fast walked and kept her shirt over her nose, “it can be pungent.”  
“You humans can’t even manage to smell better without failing completely,” Jasper glowered at a hapless employee that almost gave her a sample spray.  
“You have to like some of the smells on Earth, don’t you?” Connie asked through the shirt.  
“Eh. I used to keep a small bunch of the green parts of the spiky trees in my territory,” Jasper admitted, “It smelled...ok.”  
“Spiky trees? I think those are the pine trees in those woods,” Connie let her shirt drop as they finally walked out of the miasma of rose water and the concentrated stench of beauty.  
“Right, uh, pines. Whatever,” Jasper grumbled. Connie hid her smile for Jasper’s sake. They finally reached the Home and Board section of the store and Jasper’s eyes actually lit up.  
Shelves and shelves and aisles and aisles of blankets. Every kind one could think of. All kinds of colors, prints, sizes, stitching styles, thicknesses, textures.   
“Here we are! Go ahead and feel them, just try not to rip them,” Connie stood by as Jasper started to investigate. She passed her large hands over the blankets, pausing over certain ones, rubbing them with her fingers for a more exact sensation. She pulled a couple off the shelves, knocking over stacks of blankets and Connie sighed.  
“Really? Jasper, come on,” she admonished and tried to keep up with the falling fabric as Jasper pulled potential picks one after the other. Connie looked up from the floor and stopped. Jasper was holding a particular blanket to her face and neck, eyes closed, and Connie was taken aback at her expression. She looked honest in that moment and that honesty spoke of a soul rotting exhaustion and a desperation under the eyes and at the strain of her neck.  
“Well...what do you think?” Connie quietly asked, standing near Jasper. Jasper opened her eyes and that honest moment was gone.  
“Terrible,” Jasper dropped the blanket, “It’s like I found the only fucking good thing on this planet and now it’s gone.”   
Connie sighed and started to put back the blankets Jasper had rejected, “I’m sorry, Jasper, maybe we can try-”  
“No. If I have to walk in another store again, I’ll level it,” Jasper said and turned on her heel, walking for the exit. Connie gave up on the mess and quickly followed her.  
“Jasper, hold on!” she tried to grab her attention as Jasper simply shoved aside clothing racks and tables, bee-lining for the doors. Connie threw apologetic smiles to the employees and jogged in order to keep up with Jasper.  
“You didn’t like any of the blankets?” Connie asked when Jasper slowed down.  
“No, half of them were too bright, half were way too soft, most of them were garbage,” Jasper sighed.  
“Ok, well...what was your blanket like?”  
“It was tough, big, and a little soft, no matter the weather. No ridiculous colors.”   
“Well...you could make your own,” Connie proposed and Jasper scoffed.  
“Quartz soldiers do not make, we break,” Jasper smirked and Connie was pretty sure she would flex if she had a bigger audience.  
“Is that ALL a Quartz soldier can do?” Connie asked and Jasper glared down at her, “I don’t know, I thought you were supposed to be the perfect Jasper.”  
“I AM the perfect Jasper!” she yelled, “Of course I can make my own fucking blanket!”  
“There is an arts and crafts class at Little Homeschool.”  
“I am not going to an arts and crafts class,” Jasper glared, “all they do is go on and on about perspective and color schemes and nothing just exists!”  
“Look, I’m just trying to help. You want your blanket to be so exact, you have to make it yourself! And i’m sure that you would be great at it,” Connie put her hands on her hips and Jasper narrowed her eyes. She felt like she was dealing with some snotty, 1,200 year old Sapphire rather than a human.  
“Fine. I’ll make my own blanket, so I don’t have to keep coming back here and dealing with you imbeciles,” she relented, “but I’m not working with the Crystal Gems.”  
“They’re the only instructors there,” Connie pointed out, “and don’t worry, I’m sure they’ll be just as pissed they have to deal with you too,” she regretted that remark, but this Gem was really testing her patience. Jasper simply turned and walked away, back towards the woods. Connie texted Pearl on her cellphone about their incoming new student. She had wanted that to go better than it did. She still felt the presence of that elephant and the least she could say was that it hadn’t trampled her. Yet.


End file.
